Ghazi Muhammad

Ghazi Muhammad (1793-1832) was the Imam of the Caucasian Imamate from 1829 to 1832, preceding Gamzat-bek. He was killed by the Imperial Russian Army during the Caucasian War.

Biography
Ghazi Muhammad was born in Gimry, Dagestan, Avar Khanate in 1793, and he was a close childhood friend of Imam Shamil. He preached that jihad would not occur until the North Caucasians followed sharia completely (rather than following a mixture of Islamic law and customary tradition), and he became one of the most prominent imams in the Caucasus. He became the hero of a population of Dagestanis that had grown tired of Russian intrusion and reorganization of local land and resources, and he launched a Muslim war of resistance against Russian encroachment as the first leader of the Caucasian Imamate from 1829 onwards. That year, he made the call for holy war from Gimry, and he ordered for all wine to be destroyed publicly. He was killed when the Imperial Russian Army captured Gimry, and it was said that he had died in prayer position.